Facebook more popular than Google

2010 has been a good year for Facebook. That's according to the Hitwise figures released showing that it's had more online visitors than Google, at least in the USA.

The stats say that Facebook.com accounted for 8.93 per cent of all US internet traffic and for the first time picked up top spot ahead of the Big G which managed a total of 7.19 per cent for Google.com.

Naturally, the statistics only tell some of the story and this is only the results for the States but it certainly gives plenty of weight to Zuckerberg's quest to make his social network an internet power beyond simply looking up your old flame.

All the same, this is just Google.com that Facebook has bested. That doesn't include all the other arms of Google, such as Docs and Mail and the rest which combine to make 9.85 per cent of all the internet traffic whereas Facebook properties could only muster 8.93.

Whether search is becoming less relevant as we tend to have a better idea of the websites we want to visit or whether the human interest in other people is just greater than anything else remains to be seen but the trends over the next decade are going to be well worth the watch. Just a bit of a while to wait.

All the same, the Hitwise figures should offer some heart to Yahoo whose mail application came in at third proving that 3.52 per cent of the US-based users are still interested in what the purple and white decorated part of the internet has to say.